What is the name of the male domestic duck. External differences between a drake and a duck. Use of a breeding male for breeding

In many breeds, the differences between a duck and a drake are not obvious. If you do not know what signs you need to pay attention to, it is impossible to separate males from females in most cases, it is especially difficult to determine the sex of ducklings. However, there are character traits appearance and character that make it possible to distinguish a duck from a drake. Once having learned to reliably determine the sex of ducks, in the future you can always do it without much difficulty.

It is very important to be able to determine the sex of a bird, since it is necessary to correctly select the ratio of drakes and ducks in the livestock. Ideal amounts of the first and second when grown for meat and for obtaining a large number eggs for the purpose of producing offspring are different, but in both cases, the correct selection of proportions will help maximize productivity.

Drake plumage is brighter than ducks

Pictured is a male and a female Muscovy duck

drakes wild duck have bright plumage.

Characteristic external differences of drakes:

• brighter than in females, plumage;
• larger sizes;
• a wide forehead has the shape of a triangle;
• tuft of feathers around the neck;
• large beak;
• feather beard.

Despite the fact that drakes are characterized by larger sizes, when kept at home, this rule is not always followed. Sometimes the male may be smaller than the females, this largely depends on the conditions of detention and diet. The forehead of the drake expands sharply upwards from the beak, while in females its outlines are smoother, and in shape it is closer to a trapezoid.

Reference. A portable device that generates ultrasound allows you to quickly determine the sex of ducks. Empirically, you can choose a frequency on it that will be unpleasant for individuals of a certain sex. In this case, when you turn on the device, they will move to the side.

Another way to determine the gender of a duck is to observe its behavior. The drakes let the females go forward, keeping behind and a little to the side.

They are also usually distinguished by their noisiness and pugnacity. This behavior is especially characteristic of the dominant male in the population, which always seeks to emphasize its dominant position.

At the same time, he will direct his aggression precisely at other males. Ducks, unlike drakes, do not tend to conflict, they have a calm nature and try to fly away much less often.

However, by these features it is far from always possible to correctly determine the sex. If there is an incorrect ratio of drakes to ducks in the stock - and the ideal ratio is 1:4 - females can behave like males, and vice versa. Behavioral features, as well as features of appearance by which sex can be determined, appear only in the second or third month of life.

Determining by gender is the most accurate way to find out if a drake is in front of you or a duck. In this way, you can even find out the sex of one-day-old chicks. You need to take the bird and put it on its back, okay, and then with the other hand gently grasp the skin from the cloaca towards the abdomen.

The male will show a small vestigial penis, or pseudopenis, while the female will have two round, spherical growths. Despite the seeming simplicity of this method, it is quite difficult to master it, but after gaining some experience, every poultry breeder can handle this task.

The difference between the male voice

You can also determine gender by voice. Females are much more noisy, they quack sharply and loudly. While for males, a low whistling hiss is more characteristic. With the help of such easy way you can quite reliably distinguish a drake from a duck, but you should not rely on it alone.

Important. In order to definitely avoid confusion when determining gender, you should always focus on several methods.

Since differences in appearance and behavior become clearly visible only in the third month of life, determining the sex of ducklings is especially difficult task. It is best to use the method described above for this, which involves examining the genitals.

The accuracy of this method is about 99%, but in order to apply it, you need some experience. It is often difficult for beginner poultry farmers to cope with such a task. Once you know the gender of the ducklings, for your own convenience, you can attach marks to them so that in the future you will always know whether it is a male or a female.

Many breeds have their own characteristic features that are characteristic of them, by which a drake can be distinguished from a duck:

It is often very difficult to determine the sex of a duck by one or two of the above signs. In the case of domestic ducks, due to the conditions of keeping and nutrition, females often acquire certain traits of males, and vice versa. Therefore, it is not surprising that even farmers who have kept ducks for more than a year sometimes get confused on this issue.

As a result, the ratio of birds of one and the other sex in their population is far from ideal, as a result of which productivity drops, and some poultry farmers are trying to get offspring in a situation where in fact their flock is only males or only females. In order to avoid such mistakes, it is necessary to determine the sex not by one, but by several signs.

In the video, the farmer shares a simple and effective way how to distinguish a drake from a duck.

After the problem is solved, a special label can be attached to the duck, which will avoid confusion in the future. With a careful and responsible approach to business, you will always know how many ducks and drakes are among your livestock, and this will allow you to get maximum amount meat and eggs.

To be able to determine the sex of ducks is necessary for both hunters and farmers. During the hunting period, shooting of drakes is allowed. Females are left so that they can later breed, increasing the number of livestock within their breed. Farmers raise ducks for both meat and eggs. Males gain weight faster. For a short period of fattening, they show the best productivity.

For meat production, it is preferable to breed males rather than females. At the same time, females are taken for the production of duck eggs. Males in poultry farms are kept to create bird families, to obtain hatching eggs. How to distinguish a duck from a drake? What do you need to pay attention to?

More than 150 species of ducks live in nature. Some of them are commercial. Drakes of ducks of wild breeds are distinguished by their bright plumage. IN mating season the color of their feathers becomes saturated, bright. Females, on the contrary, are modest in their attire. Most often it is monophonic, gray, brown, red. Feathers form an ornament on the body that is inherent in a particular breed.

In the spring, drakes shed their bright outfit and become like a female. In this case, the size of the individuals takes place. Males are always larger than females. During the winter molt, they are again covered with a beautiful feather, which persists until the mating season. Ornithologists note distinctive features in individuals of different sexes:

Experienced hunters and ornithologists can recognize the drake and the female by their voice. Ducks most often quack abruptly. Males can hiss, whistle, crackle, display intricate trills. It is especially important to pay attention to the voice wild birds after the spring molt, when the drakes lose their bright feather.

Characteristics of domestic ducks

Farmers need to know how to tell males from females in a duck population. This will allow them to properly form a herd and assign an appropriate diet. To determine the sex of ducks of domestic breeds, external differences between the drake and the female matter.

This is especially evident in the spring, during the mating season. The male duck is bright. His behavior is active. Males begin courting females. They spread their wings, attracting ducks with their bright plumage. By the behavior of birds in a flock, one can distinguish the sex of individuals.

In some ducks of domestic breeds, there is a clear sexual dimorphism in plumage color. Gender differences are visible in the photographs provided on the Internet:

• muscle ducks. The main differences of the breed are growths around the eyes and at the base of the beak. In the drake, they are bright red in color, look like large warts. In ducks, the growth is small, has a pinkish tint. The plumage of the male is black and white. Head and chest are cast in green. Females are uniformly variegated;
• khaki campbell. The plumage of birds is light brown. The boy can be recognized by the dark feather on his head and by the light wings. Girls are uniformly brown;
• Bashkir duck. Looking at the images of birds, it is not immediately possible to recognize domestic ducks in them. The bird pair is more like a mallard family. Individuals have an identical plumage color. Getting to know them better, clearly visible distinctive features. Domestic ducks are much larger, weighing more than 4 kg.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to determine the sex of birds by external signs, by the color of feathers. There are individuals with snow-white plumage. It is difficult to recognize a female and a male in the following breeds: Agidel, Moscow White, Beijing, Cherry Valley. How, in this case, to compose a duck meat and egg herd? Experts resort to the Japanese technique. It allows you to determine the sex of individuals from birth. On external signs are not paying attention. The down of chicks looks the same in ducks of most breeds.

According to the Japanese method of determining the sex of ducklings, it is proposed to inspect the cloaca of individuals and find the genitals. They are poorly developed, but anatomical differences in chicks can be detected. How to distinguish a duck from a drake by primary sexual characteristics? In the male, a protruding tubercle is clearly visible on the inner wall of the cloaca on the left. It is oblong. These are the beginnings of the penis. When examining females, no tubercles are visible.

The fallopian tube is closed by a membrane. It is a thin skin growth. An experienced specialist in an hour can determine the sex of 600 chicks with great accuracy. Inexperienced poultry farmers will need some time and skill to inspect the cloaca of ducklings. What actions need to be implemented by households, how to determine the sex of chicks:

1. take the chick in your hands. Put it on the palm, back down;
2. perform a light massage of the lower abdomen;
3. lightly press on the stomach. The mucosa of the inner wall of the cloaca will appear;
4. inspect the left inner wall;
5. the male will have a process 2 mm long;
6. the female has a fallopian tube on the left. It will show a smooth mucous wall.

You need to act carefully. Press on the stomach slightly, slightly pushing the mucous membrane. Otherwise, there is a risk of extrusion of the intestinal walls from the cloaca, which can lead to the death of the duckling. Experts advise contacting a veterinarian for help. This technique is used in determining the sex of geese, turkeys, chickens.

Palpation of the larynx

There is another way to determine the sex of birds. Anatomical differences in the structure of the larynx are noticeable between ducklings of different sexes. The duck drake has an extension on the larynx. It has the shape of a ball. Females do not have this feature. You can detect a spherical expansion using palpation:

1. the duckling is picked up. Lay belly on the palm;
2. with one hand they stretch out his neck;
3. with the other hand, they probe the expansion in the upper part of the chest;
4. The procedure is painless and safe.

In some species of birds, the male from the female is quite easy to distinguish. As for ducks, such differences are not always obvious. If you do not know certain nuances, then in most cases it is impossible to determine the gender of ducklings, however, distinctive features in appearance and in character still exist. The following information will help you easily distinguish a girl duck from a boy duck.

What is the name of a male duck

A male duck is called a drake. And this is not a separate breed or subspecies, but just a term for a male duck.

They differ from females in a number of ways.

Did you know? Newly hatched ducklings take for mother the creature that they see immediately after hatching.

How to distinguish a male from a female

Today you can find a lot of tips on how to recognize a drake and a duck. But when it comes to practical application, it becomes clear that these signs are not so many.

The most difficult thing is to look for males and females among ducklings. It is necessary to distinguish between chicks by sex, since it is necessary to correctly select the sex ratio in the agricultural population.

The ideal proportions for raising birds for meat or for eggs vary somewhat. However, their correct selection will help to achieve maximum efficiency.

The most accurate methods are the following recognition methods.

By appearance

Main visual differences drakes from ducks are as follows:

• in males, the plumage is brighter than in females, which most often have a gray, dull color;
• males are always larger than females;
• males usually have a wide forehead in the shape of a triangle, females have a thinner forehead with smooth outlines, more like a trapezoid in shape;
• males have a small crest on the neck;
• in males, the tip of the tail is rounded, the tail of ducks is almost always straight;
• males have a larger beak;
• drakes are decorated with a feather beard.

By voice

It is worth paying attention to the sounds that birds make. Ducks usually quack and drakes mostly hiss. Moreover, the voice of the female is always louder (this is how she attracts ducklings), and the voice of the male can be heard extremely rarely.

Important! IN wild nature drakes are much larger than ducks, but in poultry this condition is not always observed. Sometimes males are smaller than females - it all depends on the conditions of cultivation and nutrition.

For the genitals

Unlike other birds, drakes have anatomical differences from ducks. It is in males that a large penis is located in the walls of the cloaca. It may not be immediately noticeable, although it is quite impressive in size.

During nesting or during the mating season, the genital organ can turn outward, although it is this dignity that seriously complicates the life of a bird, because its length is sometimes equal to the length of the body itself.

Differences between a duck and a drake in terms of genitals

Male habits

In the duck gang, you can see that the females do not try to be leaders at all: they always keep either somewhere on the side or behind. And this rule is observed not only on a walk, but also in flight.

Often, even when breeding poultry, aggressiveness on the part of drakes is noted. They often start fights for females or food.

Important! behavioral traits, like external features, by which sex is determined, appear only 2-3 months after birth.

In order to attract a female, the drake constantly curls around her, comes into conflict with other males. Marriage games may be accompanied by serenades and dances. The duck itself can become the initiator of mating.

In addition to the fact that drakes fertilize females, they have no other meaning in nature. From a practical point of view, they have healthy, tasty meat and warm fluff, which is used to make clothes.
In Peking ducks, the drake has curls at the tip of the tail, the duck does not.

How to choose a male for a tribe

Correct Definition gender will allow you to correctly determine the feed and choose the direction of development of the house. In order to choose a good drake, you should consider its structure.

It is desirable that the bird meets the following parameters:

• flat, wide, without curvature of the keel - it should be parallel to the ground;
• the chick must be healthy - healthy drakes behave noisily, actively, their plumage near the cloaca is clean and dry;
• you need to purchase only individuals over the age of 7 days - by this age the ducklings have time to get stronger.

Did you know? Some determine the sex of ducks in a funny way: they take the duckling by the paws and lower it upside down. The boys will break free and turn their heads, and the girls will remain hanging quietly.

As you can see, it is not difficult to detect the differences between a drake and a duck, you just need to look closely at the birds.

How to distinguish a drake from a duck: video

Duck (Anatidae) according to the classification belongs to the class of birds, the order of Anseriformes, the family of ducks and the genus of waterfowl.

Duck Description

For all the numerous representatives of ducks, one can name the characteristic features that distinguish them from other birds:

• flattened and streamlined body;
• rather short neck;
• small head;
• wide and flat beak with horny plates or teeth on the sides;
• the presence of a subcutaneous layer of fat;
• powerful paws, equipped with membranes that resemble flippers.

Biological features of a duck

One more characteristic feature distinguishing ducks from other bird species, one can name a significant difference in the color of males and females. The male duck, the drake, in addition to being much larger than the female, has a more colorful plumage. All representatives of ducks have a contrasting and bright spot on their wings, which is called a “mirror”. It serves to ensure that birds of the same species can identify each other among other birds.

Due to the grease secreted by the oil gland, the outer plumage of the duck is waterproof. Thanks to this, waterfowl can take off even after long “ water procedures».

duck species

Ducks can be divided into two main groups: wild and domestic. In turn, wild ducks are divided into diving ducks, which get their food at the bottom of water bodies, and river ducks, which get their food in shallow water. It is believed that domestic ducks had one common ancestor - the mallard.

The whole variety of duck breeds bred by man can be divided into four classes: meat, meat and egg, egg and decorative.

Drakes weight meat breed can reach four kilograms, and the average egg-laying of egg-class ducks exceeds 250 eggs per year.

Where do ducks live?

The distribution range of ducks is very wide. You will not meet them only in the harsh conditions of Antarctica. The main condition for the existence of wild ducks is the presence of a reservoir, since it is a source of food for these birds.

In addition, coastal vegetation (shrubs, reeds, wind-blown trees, etc.) serves as an obligatory factor, which hides a nest with masonry from prying eyes. With representatives of poultry it is easier - they live where conditions have been created for them.

What does a duck eat?

In nutrition, representatives of the duck family are absolutely unpretentious and can easily adapt to circumstances. In early spring When the reservoirs are still covered with a crust of ice, ducks find food in polynyas. Later, when the water is freed from winter shackles, duckweed, small fish and tadpoles, crustaceans and adults are added to the diet of ducks. The latter helps to restrain the uncontrolled reproduction of these insects.

Many people at least once in their lives have seen ducks and drakes on lakes, ponds and other bodies of water.

At the same time, you can meet both nondescript birds with brown feathers, and beautiful representatives with gray-white plumage and a green head.

Due to the different colors, males and females can be distinguished, but this is far from the only difference.

General information

The duck family includes more than a hundred different species, of which more than thirty genera are easy to find on the territory of Russia.

Among these species is the subfamily of true ducks. It is further divided into 5-8 subgroups, whose representatives have the most characteristic features.

These include ducks:

1. Earthy.
2. Diving.
3. River.
4. Brilliant.
5. Stream.
6. Marine.
7. Steamboat ducks.
8. Savki.

Domestic ducks are descended from the mallard or mallard wild duck. They are bred in many countries and are traditionally divided into:

1. meat;
2. egg;
3. meat-egg.

Important: only females are called ducks - males are called drakes.

Ducks are small birds with a short neck and membranes. They have a variety of feather colors, many have a so-called “mirror” on their wings - a spot of blue color, which helps to recognize "your" species.

Coloration depends on gender and is expressed during the breeding season, when males become brighter than females and attract attention. In summer and autumn, molting occurs, during the latter, due to the change of flight wings, ducks cannot fly for some time.

feed on aquatic plants and seeds, do not mind eating shellfish and insects. The weight of poultry is up to 3-4 kg in drakes and about 3-3.5 kg in females. The latter are able to bring up to 250 eggs per year, wild species more "humble". Mostly females incubate eggs, they also raise children.

Why you need to know the differences

In order to correctly count the birds in the household, the owner needs to know exactly the difference between females and males.

This will help not only to establish their number, but also to choose a farming model and form the most optimal ratio of individuals. It is important to remember that:

1. Males are more aggressive and conflict, more likely to fly away and have good disease tolerance.
2. Males weigh more than females - this is important when trading duck meat.
3. For good reproduction, there should be 3-4 females per male.

Differences between two individuals may lie in external signs and behavior. Some difficulty is the recognition of gender in ducklings, since they do not yet have clear signs.

Gender (click to enlarge)

There are 4 ways to recognize the gender of ducks:

1. External differences

TO external differences relate:

1. Plumage: in males it is brighter, especially in spring, during the mating season, and drakes also have a small “beard”;

Note: in the household, identical white birds are often found, which cannot be distinguished.

1. Females look smaller and more elegant than males: they have a round head, a shorter neck, and less developed paws. Their weight reaches 3 kg, the weight of males reaches 5 kg - such data is given for the Favorit breed;
2. The tail of drakes is round, in ducks it is sharp;
3. The drake's beak has a small outgrowth on top;
4. The forehead of a duck is narrow, the entire head with a beak resembles a trapezoid in shape, in a drake the shape looks more like a triangle (expands from the beak);
5. differ in growths on their heads: in the drake they are larger in size.

It is important to remember that this method is not reliable, since external structure birds can change a lot due to diet and other reasons.
For example, a lack of nutrition can lead to a decrease in the male, and its excess - to the enlargement of the female.

1. Japanese method

The Japanese version of medical recognition, based on differences in the reproductive system, is recognized as more truthful. Drakes have a so-called pseudopenis - a small fold about 3-4 mm in size. To find it, you need to take the bird to left hand, turn her head towards you and open the anus with your right fingers, then turn. In females, it will be possible to detect flat spherical growths, in males - a rudiment of a spiral member.

1. Differences in behavior

This method is more suitable for experienced poultry farmers who can distinguish the behavioral characteristics of their pets. These include:

1. Aggressiveness of dominant males: it manifests itself in frequent fights for females and food;
2. When a flock gathers together, the females usually walk in front, while the males are located on the side to the side;
3. Drakes hiss and whistle more often, and ducks quack.

It is important to remember that due to improper maintenance or care, the bird may develop homosexuality, and it will begin to copy someone else's behavior. For example, a dominant female will start to fight or run away to the drakes, and a passive male will cling to the opposite sex.

1. Differences in ducklings

While the ducklings are small, it is rather difficult to distinguish females and males in them: the first external signs will begin to appear only at the age of 2-3 months. The Japanese method described above remains the most reliable method.

In second place is the ultrasonic method. To do this, you need to purchase an ultrasonic device and, choosing the frequency, track when ducks come running, when drakes come running.

Cleaning sewer pipes at home:

1. Folk way

Folk remedies offer to follow the behavior of ducklings in a flock: like adults, drakes are more pugnacious. An interesting option is the following method: you need to grab the duckling by the paws and lower it upside down. The boy will start to break free, the girl will remain hanging.

Accurate determination of the sex of birds will help to properly distribute food and choose the direction of development of the economy. It is important to remember that each breed of bird has its own differences, which may not coincide with the general ones. You can learn about them from the video or by comparing photos of drakes and ducks.

How to distinguish a duck from a drake, see next video expert advice: